[244] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 47.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 166.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 27, 29.--Or, rather, it was “at the instigation of the great Devil, the captain of all the devils, called Satan, who regulated every thing in New Spain by his free will and pleasure, before the coming of the Spaniards,” according to Father Sahagun, who begins his chapter with this eloquent exordium. [245] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 88.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 29.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 19. [246] The proceedings in the Tlascalan senate are reported in more or less detail, but substantially alike, by Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.,--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 29,--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 12, cap. 14.--See, also, Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 129,--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 111. [247] The Indian name of the capital,--the same as that of the province,--_Tepejacac_, was corrupted by the Spaniards into _Tepeaca_. It must be admitted to have gained by the corruption. [248] “Y como aquello vió Cortés, comunicólo con todos nuestros Capitanes, y soldados: y fué acordado, que se hiziesse vn auto por ante Escriuano, que diesse fe de todo lo passado, y que se diessen por esclauos.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 130. [249] The chroniclers estimate his army at 50,000 warriors; one-half, according to Toribio, of the disposable military force of the republic. “De la cual (Tlascala), como ya tengo dicho, solian salir cien mil hombres de pelea.” Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 16. [250] “That night,” says the credulous Herrera, speaking of the carouse that followed one of their victories, “the Indian allies had a grand supper of legs and arms; for, besides an incredible number of roasts on wooden spits, they had fifty thousand pots of stewed human flesh”! (Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 15.) Such a banquet would not have smelt savory in the nostrils of Cortés. [251] “Y allí hiziéron hazer el hierro con que se auian de herrar los que se tomauan por esclauos, que era una G., que quiere decir _guerra_.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 130. [252] Solís, Conquista, lib. 5, cap. 3. [253] Called by the Spaniards _Huacachula_, and spelt with every conceivable diversity by the old writers, who may be excused for stumbling over such a confusion of consonants. [254] “Y toda la Ciudad está cercada de muy fuerte Muro de cal y canto, tan alto, como quatro estados por de fuera de la Ciudad: é por de dentro está casi igual con el suelo. Y por toda la Muralla va su petril, tan alto, como medio estado, para pelear, tiene quatro entradas, tan anchas, como uno puede entrar á Caballo.” Rel. Seg., p. 162. [255] This cavalier’s name is usually spelt Olid by the chroniclers. In a copy of his own signature I find it written Oli.